People detection method for auto-framing and tracking in a video conference

ABSTRACT

A videoconference apparatus and method coordinates a stationary view obtained with a stationary camera to an adjustable view obtained with an adjustable camera. The stationary camera can be a web camera, while the adjustable camera can be a pan-tilt-zoom camera. As the stationary camera obtains video, participants are detected and localized by establishing a static perimeter around a participant in which no motion is detected. Thereafter, if no motion is detected in the perimeter, any personage objects such as head, face, or shoulders which are detected in the region bounded by the perimeter are determined to correspond to the participant.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/227,815, filed Dec. 20, 2018, entitled “People Detection Method forAuto-Framing and Tracking in a Video Conference,” which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/640,371 filed Jun. 30,2017, entitled “People Detection Method for Auto-Framing and Tracking ina Video Conference,” now U.S. Pat. No. 10,187,579, the contents of whichare incorporated herein in their entirety.

This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 15/808,685,filed Nov. 9, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,003,765, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/017,262, filed Feb. 5,2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,843,761, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/112,525 filed Feb. 5, 2015, entitled“Face Brightening to Compensate for Back-Lighting,” the contents ofwhich applications are entirely incorporated herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure is generally concerned with video conferencing, and morespecifically with methods and equipment for accurately detecting andframing meeting participants for display on a display device.

BACKGROUND

The camera for a videoconferencing system often has mechanical pan,tilt, and zoom control. Ideally, these controls should be continuouslyadjusted to achieve optimal video framing of the people in the roombased on where they are seated and who is talking. Unfortunately, due tothe difficulty of performing these adjustments, the camera may often beset to a fixed, wide-angle view of the entire room and may not beadjusted. If this is the case, far-end participants may lose much of thevalue from the video captured by the camera because the size of thenear-end participants displayed at the far-end may be too small. In somecases, the far-end participants cannot see the facial expressions of thenear-end participants, and may have difficulty identifying speakers.These problems give the videoconference an awkward feel and make it hardfor the participants to have a productive meeting.

To deal with poor framing, participants may have to intervene andperform a series of manual operations to pan, tilt, and zoom the camerato capture a better view. As expected, manually directing the camera canbe cumbersome even when a remote control is used. Sometimes,participants do not bother adjusting the camera's view and simply usethe default wide view. Of course, when a participant does manually framethe camera's view, the procedure has to be repeated if participantschange positions during the videoconference or use a different seatingarrangement in a subsequent videoconference.

Voice-tracking cameras having microphone arrays can help direct thecamera during the videoconference toward participants who are speaking.Although the voice-tracking camera is very useful, it can stillencounter some problems. When a speaker turns away from the microphones,for example, the voice-tracking camera may lose track of the speaker.Additionally, a very reverberant environment can cause thevoice-tracking camera to direct at a reflection point rather than at anactual sound source of a person speaking. For example, typicalreflections can be produced when the speaker turns away from the cameraor when the speaker sits at an end of a table. If the reflections aretroublesome enough, the voice-tracking camera may be guided to point toa wall, a table, or other surface instead of the actual speaker.

One solution to the problem of directing a camera during avideoconference is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,894,714 to Gutta et al.,which discloses an apparatus and methods which use acoustic and visualcues to predict when a participant is going to speak or stop speaking.As shown in FIG. 1, an adaptive position locator 30 of Gutta includes awide-angle camera 20, a microphone array 22, and a pan-tilt-zoom camera34. During a videoconference, the locator 30 processes audio and videoto locate a speaker.

To do this locating, the wide-angle camera 20 and the microphone array22 generate signals at initial startup. The signals from the wide-anglecamera 20 pass to a face recognition module 32, which has a facedetector to determine whether or not a given region of interest (window)can be labeled as a face region so a unique identifier can be assignedto a given face. Likewise, signals from the microphone array 22 pass toa speaker identification module 33 and an audio locator 36, whichobtains directional information that identifies pan and tilt anglesassociated with a participant who is speaking.

Then, the images from the wide-angle camera 20 along with the results offace recognition and their locations are stored in a frame buffer 39along with the audio signals from the microphone array 22 and theresults of the speaker identification. The audio and video signals areaccumulated for a predefined interval, and a motion detector 35 detectsmotion in the video frames occurring during this interval. In the end, aspace transformation module 37 receives position information from themotion detector module 35 and directional information from the audiolocator 36 and then maps the position and direction information tocompute a bounding box used to focus the PTZ camera 34.

At this point, a predictive speaker identifier 40 identifies one or moreacoustic and visual cues to predict the next speaker. In particular, thepredictive speaker identifier 40 processes the video from the PTZ camera34 and the contents of the frame buffer 39 and speaker identificationmodule 33. As noted above, the contents of the frame buffer 39 includethe wide-angle images from the wide-angle camera 34 and thecorresponding face recognition results, the audio signals from themicrophone array 22, and the corresponding speaker identificationresults. Based on this information, the predictive speaker identifier 40can identify the visual and acoustic cues of each non-speakingparticipant from the wide-angle image and audio signals. Ultimately, thespeaker predictions generated by the predictive speaker identifier 40are used to focus the PTZ camera 34 at the next predicted speaker.

As can be seen above, systems that use voice tracking and participantdetection may require complex processing and hardware to control acamera during a videoconference. Moreover, such systems can havepractical limitations. For example, such systems may require an operatorto manually initiate the automated operation by pressing a button. Thisis the case because such systems require a sufficient period of time fortraining to operate properly. For example, such a system has to work ina training mode first and then has to switch to an active mode, such asa predictive mode to predict who will speak. The switching from trainingmode to active mode requires the manual user intervention.

Yet, requiring manual initiation of the automated functions can causeproblems when people walk in or out of a room during a meeting.Additionally, for the automated control of the camera to operateproperly, all of the participants need to face the camera. For example,the automated control of the camera fails when a participant turns hishead away from the camera, which can happen quite often in a videoconference.

Another solution is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 8,842,161 to Jinwei Fenget al. That patent discloses a videoconference apparatus and methodwhich coordinates a stationary view obtained with a stationary camera toan adjustable view obtained with an adjustable camera. The stationarycamera can be a web camera, while the adjustable camera can be apan-tilt-zoom camera. As the stationary camera obtains video, faces ofparticipants are detected, and a boundary in the view is determined tocontain the detected faces. Absence and presence of motion associatedwith the detected face is used to verify whether a face is reliable. InJinwei, in order to capture and output video of the participants for thevideoconference, the view of the adjustable camera is adjusted to aframed view based on the determined boundary. Jinwei combined thetechnology of sound source location (SSL), participant detection andmotion detection to locate the meeting attendees and decide what theoptimal view would be, based on the location information, and thencontrol the adjunct pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera to pan, tilt and zoom toget the desired view. The methods set forth in Jinwei work very well inmost videoconferencing situations. However, there are certain situationsin which these methods may underperform. There is thus room forimprovement in the art.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this disclosure pertain to one or more cameras which areautomatically adjusted to continuously and instantly provide an optimalview of all persons attending a video conference using auto-framing.Embodiments of this disclosure pertain to automatically adjusting one ormore cameras continuously and instantly provide an optimal view of aperson who is speaking using a speaker-tracking method. These automaticadjustments are enabled by fast and reliable people detection methods.Such methods involve quickly determining the sizes and locations of themeeting attendees and/or speakers in the video feeds from one or morecameras.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of illustration, there are shown in the drawings certainembodiments described in the present disclosure. In the drawings, likenumerals indicate like elements throughout. It should be understood thatthe full scope of the inventions disclosed herein are not limited to theprecise arrangements, dimensions, and instruments shown. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of an adaptive positionlocator according to the prior art.

FIG. 2A illustrates a videoconferencing endpoint according to certainteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B schematically illustrates components of the endpoint of FIG. 2A.

FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2 illustrate the endpoint having a videoconferencingunit connected to a video device, which has an adjustable camera and anadjunct camera.

FIG. 3B schematically illustrates the endpoint of FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates software processing performed by thedisclosed endpoint.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart showing the processing performed by thedisclosed endpoint.

FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate examples of participant detection and cameraadjustments performed by the disclosed endpoint.

FIG. 7 diagrammatically illustrates an area or region associated with aface used during the processing of the disclosed endpoint.

FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate portions of prior and current frames duringparticipant detection and localization.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of thetechnology. Each example is provided by way of explanation of thetechnology only, not as a limitation of the technology. It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications andvariations can be made in the present technology. For instance, featuresdescribed as part of one implementation of the technology can be used onanother implementation to yield a still further implementation. Thus, itis intended that the present encompass such modifications andvariations.

Descriptions of terms used within this disclosure are provided asfollows. ‘Personage object’ refers to parts or appendages or regions ofa human body, including, but not limited to, the face, head, torso,shoulders, skin tone, eyes, and lips. The term can also include sound oraudio information generated by a person, such as by speaking. ‘Coupled’refers to components or devices which able interact with one another,either directly or indirectly. All connected elements are coupled, butnot all coupled elements are connected. Coupled elements include thosewhich are in communication with each other. ‘Proximity’ refers to thedegree to which items or elements or components etc. are close to oneanother. Elements are ‘proximate’ when they are near each other, aswould be understood by a person of skill based on the context.

The technology described herein can be used in video conferencingenvironments which include one or more advanced camera devices such assmart cameras.

In a videoconference apparatus and method of this disclosure, astationary or fixed view of an environment is obtained with a stationaryor fixed camera of the apparatus and is coordinated with an adjustableview of the environment obtained with a second, adjustable camera. Inone arrangement, the stationary camera is a web camera, while theadjustable camera is a controllable camera, such as a pan-tilt-zoomcamera, although other arrangements can be used. These two cameras arepreferably co-located in or on a shared housing location.

During the videoconference, the stationary camera obtains stationaryvideo in the stationary view of the environment, while the adjustablecamera can obtain active video in the adjustable view of theenvironment. It will be understood that multiple stationary and adjunctcameras can be utilized, though for the sake of simplicity and clarity,most embodiments described refer to one of each. Thus, it is impliedthat each of the embodiments could involve one or more additionalcameras. For the purposes of the videoconference, the stationary videomay be used primarily to determine locations of participants and may notbe output for the videoconference, although this is possible in somecircumstances. The adjunct or whole view camera (commonly stationary)thus acts as a sort of spotter for one or more (main) adjustablecameras. The active video of the adjustable camera, may be used as theprimary video for output in the videoconference.

To improve data capture of participants for inclusion in output video,the adjustable camera is adjusted automatically to provide an optimalview of all the meeting attendees (auto-framing) or the speaker(speaker-tracking) continuously and instantly during a video conference.In order to enable this process, fast and reliable people detectionmethods to determine the size and location of the meeting attendees orspeakers in the video are disclosed.

As the videoconference proceeds, the apparatus detects participants inthe stationary video captured with the stationary camera. Detectingparticipants can be based on techniques involving one or more of facedetection, facial recognition, head detection, torso detection, motiondetection, and human skin tone detection, (personage objects). Theapparatus verifies whether the detected participants are ‘reliable’participants by analyzing areas of the stationary video associated witheach of the detected participants for motion. Some non-limiting examplesof verification processes are discussed below:

The area of interest for a detected face can include an on-face sectionat the location of the detected face. If motion is detected at thison-face section for a given detected face, then the apparatus canindicate the given face as reliable. Rather than just disregarding thegiven detected face when motion detection fails to find motion in theon-face section, the apparatus can instead determine whether thelocation of the given face was previously detected and indicated asreliable. If so, then the participant detection can still be reliableeven though motion has not been detected in the on-face section.

Area of interest for a detected face can further include surroundingsections around the on-face section of the detected face. Thesesurrounding sections can be analyzed for motion to verify that adetected face is reliable by determining whether a person has moved (oris moving) from the location of the detected face. In this sense, themotion detection of the apparatus verifies a face by finding an absenceof motion. For example, previous face detection may have been madefinding a reliable face at a particular location, but current processingmay have not detected the face. This might be because the person hasturned her head away from the camera, may have obscured her face, etc.,or the face detection may have failed for whatever reason. The apparatusdetermines that the person is still at this location by verifying thatno motion is detected in the surrounding sections of the previouslydetected face.

However, face detection, when used in isolation, can have drawbacks. Forexample, face detection will be less accurate when attendees(participants) turn away from the camera. And it can fail when theattendees face directly away from the camera, such that only thebackside of their head is detectable by the camera. Additionally, it canbe difficult to detect faces when the image quality of the facial areais poor—in other words when a particular camera is less than optimal, ordue to other factors.

Likewise, motion detection, whether utilized with facial detection ornot, also has drawbacks. For example, attendees may sit or stand stillwithout moving for periods of time. In that instance a motion detectormay not detect their presence. By the same token, source of soundlocating (SSL) does not work so well when attendees stay quiet. SSL canalso be less accurate when a person who is speaking turns away from themicrophone, or when the environment is reverberant, or when microphonequality is less than optimal. To be clear, the above-described methodsare all important and useful, and may be included in one or more“complete” solutions, as will be described below.

The above-referenced methods can thus be combined with, and in somecases be replaced by, one or more additional techniques. For example, inorder to better detect participants, the apparatus can use torsodetection for auto-framing and tracking functions. Torso detection, incombination with other methods, including face detection methods, canenable tracking and detection in situations where this would nototherwise be the case. The videoconferencing apparatus can thushybridize various people detection methods, including torso detection,face detection, motion detection, and source of sound location (SSL).When a participant is detected, the detection is evaluated forreliability.

After verifying the reliability of the participant detection(s), theapparatus determines a boundary in the stationary view of theenvironment containing the reliably detected participants. To captureand output video of the participants for the videoconference, theapparatus adjusts the adjustable view of the adjustable camera to aframed view of the environment based on the determined boundary. Activevideo captured in the framed view with the adjustable camera can be sentto a far-end for the videoconference.

During the videoconference, participants may join or leave theenvironment, or they may move in the environment. Therefore, theapparatus determines such boundaries on an active basis, such as atregular intervals on a frame-by-frame basis, and adjusts any currentboundary with a new boundary as needed. For example, the apparatusadjusts to a new boundary when a participant moves out of a currentboundary, a new participant enters the environment in the stationaryview outside the boundary, etc.

To keep track of the participants, the apparatus can store current face,head and torso locations of the participants in the stationary view.When processing the stationary video for face detection (for example),the apparatus can determine whether any new face locations differ fromthose previous locations for faces. Based on a change in theenvironment, the apparatus can then adjust the boundary so that all ofthe participants can be framed by the adjustable camera. Determining theface locations, head locations, and torso locations, and adjusting theview of the adjustable camera can be further augmented using audiocaptured in the environment to determine bearing angles of sourcelocations of audio (SSL) from the participants and coordinating theaudio source locations to the detected participants.

In at least one embodiment of this disclosure, a PTZ camera is used tomake adjustments to video pickup and framing for use in avideoconference. Making the correct adjustments, can be difficult,especially if the number of people in a meeting changes, or if thepeople change positions. The technology of this disclosure determineswhere people are located and zooms in on them automatically. Thisrequires automatically detecting participants' sizes and locations.Automatic locating and zooming can include voice localization and facedetection and combing the data from the two techniques. The SSL and facedetection combination works best if the subject is looking at the cameraand speaking. However, it can be desirable to see more than just theperson who is currently speaking, and meeting participants do notusually keep their faces pointed towards the camera.

The technology described herein can combine three techniques—head, faceand torso detection—to produce, in many instances, more accurate resultsthan the SSL and face detection combination described above. In at leastone embodiment, the technology can actually obviate the need for voicelocalization.

To provide a general understanding of the technology, some aspects ofvideoconferencing will be considered. When a person is not looking at acamera their head will, in most cases, still be observed. In addition tothe participant's head, their shoulders and midsection may also be inview of the camera. That is, even when a participant turns their headaway from the camera, their head and the curvature of theirs shoulderswill usually remain in view. Detecting (and storing) upper bodyinformation, or simply ‘torso detection’ can be used to detect and trackmeeting participants. Detecting the upper half, or at least upper third,of personnel can be used to localize meeting attendees. Methodsdescribed herein can involve chest detection, head detection, andshoulder detection, and cross-referencing of data collected from thethree.

The data can be combined in various ways. For example, a head and facemay be detected proximate to one another. The technology will thendetermine whether one person has been detected, or if two people havebeen detected. This determination can be made using a “bird cagetechnique,” to correctly match face data with its corresponding headdata. The bird cage technique (or method) is so called becauselocalization of a participant can be considered analogous to localizinga bird within a cage. That is, if a bird is placed in a cage and thecage door remains locked, the bird which is later observed to be in thecage the same bird that was placed there, regardless of whether the birdchanges position, size, or orientation. The “bird cage” of the presenttechnology uses motion detection to construct a “cage” consisting of aregion at least partially surrounding a participant in which no motionis present. For example, once a face or head is detected, the technologywill keep checking to determine whether the region at least partiallysurrounding the detected face and/or head is static, or if there ismotion in that region. If the region is not static, this can be anindication that the person to whom the head and/or face belong hasmoved. On the other hand, if the region is static then it is likely thatthe participant has not moved, or to use the bird cage analogy, theperson currently detected is the same person who was previouslydetected.

Determining and confirming the location of the static region (a/k/aboundary layer) thus serves to confirm that the person currently presentin a video frame is the person of the previous person. Based on theconfirmation of the participant, an identifier (ID) can be assigned tothat person. The identifier can be an alphanumeric number or some othersuitable identifier. Embodiments of the technology thus provide stableparticipant detection, and reliable tracking of a person based on theID. For example, the camera can follow the movement of one or more IDs,and help to ensure that all identified persons will be in the cameraview. Embodiments employing this technology do not require audioinformation in order to localize participants or track their positions.For example, even if a person never speaks during a videoconference, thehead, face, and upper chest data corresponding to that person can beused to keep the person in view.

In at least one embodiment of this disclosure, face detection, headdetection and torso detection can be used to detect participants. Facedetection and facial motion detection can be useful in determining whichparticipants are speaking, but it is not always required. For example,head and torso detection can be combined with audio detection technology(such as SSL and/or beam forming) to differentiate a speaker fromamongst the people identified and tracked.

In at least one embodiment, the procedures of detecting and trackinginclude defining a time-of-latest-motion array; implementing facedetection and upper torso detection techniques; matching of the detectedpersonage objects (e.g., faces or torsos) detected; and determiningwhether the matching was accurate.

To define a time-of-latest-motion array, an array is created having thesame resolution of the input video captured by the stationary camera.For example, if the image of the input video consists of 1280×720pixels, then the array will have 1280×720 elements, and each elementwill record (store) the most recent time that the corresponding pixelwas a “moving pixel.”

Face detection and torso detection can use two categories of detector todetect different personage objects from the video frames: category offace detector and category of torso detector. The category of facedetector contains five detectors for different types of face: verticalfrontal face, left side of the face, right side of the face, frontalface that tilts to the left, frontal faces that tilts to the right. Thecategory of torso detector contains three detectors for different typesof upper torso: the left side of the upper torso, the right side of theupper torso, the frontal side of the upper torso.

Each detector detects certain types of personage objects from the imagesand records the size, location and detection time of the detectedobjects. Also a reliability score or rating can be assigned to eachdetected object.

Intra-frame and Inter-frame analysis of detection results can then beperformed, with the goal being to determine whether detected personageobjects correspond to the same person. Intra-frame matching analysisinvolves attempting to match objects detected in a single (current)frame from input video. The procedure of intra-frame matching includestwo steps: matching and merging the objects by category, for exampleface with face, and torso with torso. For example, two faces will beconsidered as corresponding to the same participant if their locationsare proximate and their sizes are similar; the same logic applies forother personage objects, such as torsos. A torso and a face will bedetermined to correspond to the same person when they overlap and thecenter of the detected face is higher than the center of the detectedtorso.

A similar logic applies to the inter-frame analysis. The goal ofinter-frame analysis is to match detected objects from a current framewith those in previous frames. Inter-frame matching has at least twocriteria. If the two detected objects overlap, that is occupy some ofthe same areas in both frames, then they correspond to the sameattendee. If there is no inter-frame overlap between objects, then a“bird cage” technique can be applied, as will be described in greaterdetail below. A summarized description is provided here. If it isdetermined that one, and only one, bird is in a birdcage, and thatbirdcage's door remains closed, then the bird found inside the birdcagewill always be the same one bird, even if it changes location within thecage. Similarly, if a bounding box can be determined in which twoobjects and only those two objects are located, and no motion occurs inthe surrounding area of this bounding box between the detection times ofthese two objects, then these two objects are “matched,” and henceconsidered to correspond to the same person. The motion information usedby the bird cage method can be retrieved from the from thetime-of-latest-motion array discussed above.

After the matching is finished, the detected objects are assigned anumber or some other identifier (ID) to identify the person to whichthey correspond, (i.e., from which they came). Thus, objects with thesame ID are considered as corresponding to the same person. Adetermination as to the reliability of the ID can then be made. An IDcan be considered reliable if both face and torso of this ID aredetected in current frame. An ID can also be considered reliable if aface or torso of this ID is detected in a current frame and the(previously determined) reliability score for that ID exceeds apredetermined threshold. All reliable IDs can be accepted and used fortracking the locations of meeting participants. Other IDs can berejected. For the sake of completeness, it is noted that a given meetingparticipant can be assigned different IDs at different times. Forexample, if there were two people in a conference room, the first personcould be assigned the ID “0” and the second person could be assigned theID “1”; if the first person left the meeting and subsequently re-enteredthe room, the first person would, in most embodiments, be assigned adifferent ID, such as “2.”

In at least one embodiment, an adjunct camera captures the view of theentire (or substantially the entire) meeting location. Once the wholeview is captured, participants are detected within that view.Thereafter, zooming by one or more additional cameras on individuals andgroups can take place. The view captured by the whole view camera can beanalyzed on an ongoing/iterative basis using the detection techniques ofthis disclosure. The “bird cage” around a detected person can be used toproperly create a frame view of that person using one of the one or moreadjunct cameras. In some embodiments, the data from the adjustablecamera can be analyzed like that data collected by the adjunct camera inorder to increase accuracy and verify other data.

Returning to the subject of bird cage techniques or “bird caging,” insome embodiments, video is captured at a rate of five frames per second(5 fps), and the frames are compared to identify difference betweenthem. Each pixel for a given position can be compared amongst the fiveframes, in which illumination level (brightness) and color informationfor each pixel is checked. In embodiments in which brightness ismeasured from a zero value to 255, a difference threshold of 20 can beeffective, though other thresholds can be appropriate depending on theexact configuration and equipment involved. The comparison is made for apixel of a frame with an adjacent frame. If difference betweencorresponding pixels of adjacent frames exceeds the threshold then thatpixel is considered a “moving pixel.” In at least one embodiment of thetechnology, if even only one pixel within a given region is a movingpixel, the region is considered non-static.

As indicated above, the technology puts a certain region around aparticipant (or more specifically around one or more personage objects).If there is one or more moving pixels in that region, then the region isnot static, and the participant is considered to have moved. In someembodiments, more than one pixel might be required within a region ofthe region to be considered non-static. For example, it may beappropriate to require more moving pixels in a noisy environment, or ifthe video data is noisy. Another example would be if the camera is ofpoor quality.

In order to localize a participant based on detection of one or morepersonage objects at a given location, a static boundary layer aroundthe head and shoulders can be determined. This is done by searchingwithin rectangles for motion pixels, (see FIG. 7). In at least oneembodiment, the first rectangle begins just above the top of theperson's head, and the width of the rectangle will be slightly widerthan the detected shoulders. If there is motion in the region defined bythe rectangle, the region is not static. A rectangular region of thesame size can be defined one pixel height higher, effectively shiftingthe search rectangle up one pixel. The second rectangle can be searchedfor a pixel. The process of shifting and searching can continue until astatic area is identified, or if a threshold number of shifts isexceeded, in which case the technology will determine that a static areadoes not exist for the personage object (the head). If a static areaabove the head is found, then the process is repeated on the right andleft of the head or of the detected head and torso or shoulders. If thethree static regions are confirmed, then the “bird cage” exists.Thereafter, if the technology detects a head or torso or face orshoulder or some other personage object inside the area bounded by thestatic boundary, it will be assumed that the personal object belongs tothe same person who was present in the previous frame, and thus thedetected head, face and torso etc. will be considered as correspondingto the same person. If personage objects are detected in this “birdcage” (i.e. taking historical data into account) then the confidencelevels or reliability for accuracy for the head, face, upper chest etc.will be higher than if detected outside the boundary.

Reference to the drawings illustrating various views of exemplaryembodiments is now made. In the drawings and the description of thedrawings herein, certain terminology is used for convenience only and isnot to be taken as limiting the embodiments of the present disclosure.Furthermore, in the drawings and the description below, like numeralsindicate like elements throughout.

A videoconferencing apparatus or endpoint 100 in FIG. 2A communicateswith one or more remote endpoints 104 over a network 102. Among somecommon components, the endpoint 100 has an audio module 130 with anaudio codec 132 and has a video module 140 with a video codec 142. Thesemodules 130/140 operatively couple to a control module 120 and a networkmodule 170.

During a videoconference, a adjustable camera(s) 150 captures video andprovides the captured video to the video module 140 and codec 142 forprocessing. Additionally, one or more microphones 118 capture audio andprovide the audio to the audio module 130 and codec 132 for processing.These microphones 118 can be table or ceiling microphones or part of amicrophone pod or the like, and the endpoint 100 uses the audio capturedwith these microphones 118 primarily for the conference audio.

Separately, if available for the endpoint 100, microphone arrays 160A-Bhaving orthogonally arranged microphones 162 may also capture audio andprovide the audio to the audio module 130 for processing. Preferably,the microphone arrays 160A-B include both vertically and horizontallyarranged microphones 162 for determining locations of audio sourcesduring the videoconference. Therefore, the endpoint 100 can use theaudio from these arrays 160A-B primarily for camera tracking purposesand not for conference audio, although their audio could be used for theconference.

After capturing audio and video, the endpoint 100 encodes them using anyof the common encoding standards, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.261,H.263 and H.264, and the network module 170 outputs the encoded audioand video to the remote endpoints 104 via the network 102 using anyappropriate protocol. Similarly, the network module 170 receivesconference audio and video via the network 102 from the remote endpoints104 and sends these to their respective codec 132/142 for processing.Eventually, a loudspeaker 119 outputs conference audio, and a display116 outputs conference video. Many of these modules and other componentscan operate in a conventional manner well known in the art so thatfurther details are not provided here.

For the disclosed endpoint 100, the adjustable camera(s) 150 can be asteerable Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera or an Electronic Pan-Tilt-Zoom(EPTZ) camera. Either way, the adjustable camera(s) 150 can be adjusted,steered, or directed to alter its viewing orientation of theenvironment. To control the view captured by the adjustable camera(s)150, the endpoint 100 uses an audio-based locator 134 and/or avideo-based locator 144 to determine locations of participants and frameviews of the environment and participants. Then, the control module 120operatively coupled to the audio and video modules 130/140 uses audioand/or video information from these locators 134/144 to send cameracommands to the adjustable camera(s) 150 to alter its viewingorientation. For example, these camera commands can be implemented by anactuator or local control unit 152 having motors, servos, and the likethat steers the camera 150 mechanically. Alternatively, these cameracommands can be implemented as electronic signals to be handled by thecamera 150.

To determine the viewing orientation, the control module 120 as notedabove uses audio information obtained from the audio-based locator 134and/or video information obtained from the video-based locator 144. Forexample and as described in more detail below, the control module 120uses audio information processed by the audio-based locator 134 from thehorizontally and vertically arranged microphone arrays 160A-B. Theaudio-based locator 134 then uses a speech detector 136 to detect speechin captured audio from the arrays 160A-B and determines a location of acurrent speaker. The control module 120 uses the determined location ofthe speech to then steer the adjustable camera(s) 150 toward thatlocation so the camera 150 can capture video of a current speaker ifdesired.

Endpoint 100 can use adjunct camera 180 to perform a number of usefulfunctions. In particular, the adjunct camera 180 can count the number ofparticipants in the near-end environment (e.g., room) using persondetection. In turn, the endpoint 100 can use this information intracking the participants and can forward this information to thefar-end endpoints 104, to a multi-point control unit (not shown), or tosome other device. How the adjunct camera 180 can be used to countparticipants will be explained later with reference to the participantdetection used by the endpoint 100.

The endpoint 100 can also use the adjunct camera 180 to determine thedynamic environment of the videoconference. In particular, the endpoint100 can process video from the adjunct camera 180 to frame theparticipants in the room more effectively or to make optional close-upviews on an active speaker. Moreover, the endpoint 100 can process videofrom the adjunct camera 180 so the endpoint 100 can automaticallycontrol the viewing orientation of the adjustable camera(s) 150 to meetthe conference's dynamic needs.

In one embodiment, the adjunct camera 180 can be stationary, although anadjustable camera can be used. In general, the adjunct camera 180captures a wide, stationary view of the environment in contrast to theadjustable view obtained with the adjustable camera(s) 150. During thevideoconference, the adjunct camera 180 therefore captures wide-anglevideo of the environment, which gives context to the adjustable view ofthe adjustable camera(s) 150. In turn, the control module 120 uses videoinformation processed by the video-based locator 144 from the adjunctcamera 180 to determine the locations of participants, to determine theframing for the view of the adjustable camera(s) 180, and to direct theadjustable camera(s) 150 at the participants.

Usually the wide view, stationary video from the adjunct camera 180 isnot sent from the endpoint 100 to the far-end endpoints 104 because thevideo may be of lower quality, may be too wide, or may have otherissues. However, in some situations, the wide, stationary video from theadjunct camera 180 can be displayed at the far-end endpoints 104 whenmultiple participants at the near-end are speaking or when theadjustable camera(s) 150 is moving to direct at one or more speakers.Transitions between the two video views from the cameras 150 and 180 canbe faded and blended as desired to avoid sharp cut-a-ways when switchingbetween camera views. Details of such coordination are disclosed inco-pending U.S. Pat. Pub. 2011/0285808, filed 18 May 2010 and entitled“Videoconferencing Endpoint Having Multiple Voice-Tracking Cameras,”which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Having a general understanding of the endpoint 100 and how the twocameras 150 and 180 can be used, discussion now turns to FIG. 2B tobriefly discuss some exemplary components for the endpoint 100. As shownand discussed above, the endpoint 100 has the adjustable camera(s) 150,the adjunct camera 180, and the several microphones 118/162A-B. Inaddition to these, the endpoint 100 has a processing unit 190, a networkinterface 192, memory 194, and a general input/output (I/O) interface198, which are all coupled via a bus 191. Each of these components canbe on a single device or can be shared between separate devicesdepending on how the endpoint 100 is implemented as discussed below.

The memory 194 can be any conventional memory such as SDRAM and canstore modules 196 in the form of software and firmware for controllingthe endpoint 100. In addition to video and audio codecs and othermodules discussed previously, the modules 196 can include operatingsystems, a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables users to controlthe endpoint 100, and algorithms for processing audio/video signals andfor controlling the adjustable camera(s) 150 as discussed later.

The network interface 192 provides communications between the endpoint100 and remote endpoints (not shown). By contrast, the general I/Ointerface 198 provides data transmission with local devices such as akeyboard, mouse, printer, overhead projector, display, externalloudspeakers, additional cameras, microphone pods, etc. The endpoint 100can also contain an internal loudspeaker 119.

The cameras 150 and 180 and the microphone arrays 160A-B capture videoand audio, respectively, in the videoconference environment and producevideo and audio signals transmitted via the bus 191 to the processingunit 190. Here, the processing unit 190 processes the video and audiousing algorithms in the modules 196. For example, the endpoint 100processes the audio captured by the microphones 118/162A-B as well asthe video captured by the adjunct camera device 180 to determine thelocation of participants and direct the adjustable camera(s) 150.Ultimately, the processed audio and video can be sent to local andremote devices coupled to interfaces 192/198.

Before turning to operation of the endpoint 100 during avideoconference, discussion first turns to example implementations ofthe disclosed endpoint 100. In general, the various modules (e.g., 120,130, 140, 170) and components (e.g., 150, 160A-B, 180) of the endpoint100 can be implemented as one unit, such as a videoconferencing unit, orthey may be shared between two or more units, such as avideoconferencing unit and another video processing device, such asdisclosed below.

Turning to FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2, a video processing device 110 accordingto the present disclosure for the disclosed endpoint 100 couples to aseparate unit 115, which can be a stand-alone videoconferencing unit orcan be a personal computer configured for desktop videoconferencing. Thevideo device 110 has a housing and may or may not have horizontal andvertical microphone arrays 160 disposed thereon. If present, thesearrays 160 can each have three microphones, although either array 160can have a different number than depicted.

In general, the video device 110 can include some or all of thenecessary components for conducting a videoconference, including audioand video modules, a network module, a control module, etc., asdiscussed above. Alternatively, all or some of the necessaryvideoconferencing components may be housed in the separate unit 115coupled to the device 110. Thus, the video device 110 may be astand-alone unit having the adjustable camera(s) 150, the microphonearrays 160 (if present), the adjunct camera 180, and other relatedcomponents, while the separate unit 115 can handle all of thevideoconferencing functions. In at least one embodiment, the videodevice 110 and the separate unit 115 can be combined into one unit ifdesired.

As shown, the video device 110, (when a separate component as in FIG.3A-1), can couple to the videoconferencing unit 115 via an RS-232 serialcable or the like. In general, the adjunct camera 180 can be integratedinto or separately coupled to the housing of the video device 110.Either way, the adjunct camera 180 is physically co-located with themain, adjustable camera 150. If the adjunct camera 180 is a separatecomponent from the video device 110, then the adjunct camera 180 canconnect to the videoconferencing unit 115 via a USB cable, Ethernetcable, wireless connection, or the like that sends video signals. Otherconnections can be used for other housing configurations for the unit115, device 110, and cameras 150 and 180.

In one arrangement as shown in FIG. 3A-1, the adjunct camera 180 can bea webcam or comparable type of camera that installs onto or is added tothe video device 110, which has the adjustable camera(s) 150. Forexample, the housing for the video device 110 may have a holder andelectronic connector (not shown) for holding and connecting the adjunctcamera 180 onto the video device 110. Alternatively, the adjunct camera180 can be a camera of a peripheral device, such as a portablecellphone, tablet, laptop, PC-based web cam, or the like, and thehousing for the video device 180 may include a holder and a connector(not shown) for such a peripheral device.

In another embodiment, the adjunct camera 180 can be a second camera ofa dual camera unit, such as disclosed in incorporated U.S. Pat. Pub.2011/0285808. For example, FIG. 3A-2 shows an embodiment of the videodevice 110 having two integrated cameras 150 and 180. Although bothcameras may be mechanical or electronic PTZ cameras, the adjunct camera180 may not be expected to move during the videoconference because itmay be used to obtain the stationary, wide view of the surroundingenvironment according to the purposes disclosed herein.

Whichever way the video device 110 is implemented, the adjunct camera180 captures video in a stationary, wide view of the videoconferencingenvironment. As such, the adjunct camera 180 need not be designed orexpected to move during the videoconference to obtain the view of thesurrounding environment. Additionally, the adjunct camera's capturedvideo can be continuous video, intermittent video clips, or even videostills or frame, as processing capabilities may dictate. The videoresolution of the adjunct camera 180 is preferably high, such as 1080por 720p. The frame rate of the adjunct camera 180 can be low to reducecompute costs, and a low frame rate of less than 5 fps may be used.However, a higher frame rate is generally better for motion tracking ifcompute costs are not an issue. Still, the frame rate of the adjunctcamera 180 can still be low for the motion detector 204 to operateaccording to the purposes disclosed herein, and even a frame rate as lowas 2 frames per second can be used, which may be a practical frame rateavailable in some implementations due to limited computing powers,limited data bandwidth, or other reason. Furthermore, the video device110 may be able to adjust the frame rate during processing depending onwhether motion is to be used to track movements and whether computeresources are available.

By contrast, the adjustable camera(s) 150 is a controllable camera andis intended to obtain directed views of the videoconference environment.The adjustable camera(s) 150, therefore, has a video resolution andframe rate suitable for videoconferencing, which can be a videoresolution up to 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution or 1280×720 (720p) up to60 fps. The adjustable camera(s) 150 can have image processingcomponents 152 that can include an actuator if not an EPTZ camera, andthe components 152 can be operatively coupled to a local control unithoused in the device 110. More than one such adjustable camera can beimplanted to capture multiple feeds, which can be combined fortransmission to a remote location.

FIG. 3B illustrates non-limiting examples of components that can be partof the video device 110 of FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2, especially when thedevice 110 is a stand-alone unit. The video device 110 includes themicrophone arrays 160, a control processor 111, a Field ProgrammableGate Array (FPGA) 112, an audio processor 113, and a video processor114. As noted above, the video device 110 can be an integrated unithaving the adjustable camera(s) 150 integrated therewith and having theadjunct camera 180 separately connected onto the device's housing, orthe adjunct camera 180 and the adjustable camera(s) 150 can beintegrated with the device 110.

During operation, the FPGA 112 captures video inputs from the cameras150 and 180 and sends the input video to the video processor 114. TheFPGA 112 can also scale and composite video and graphics overlays. Theaudio processor 113, which can be a Digital Signal Processor, capturesaudio from the microphone arrays 160 and performs audio processing,including echo cancellation, audio filtering, and source tracking.

The video processor 114, which can also be a Digital Signal Processor(DSP), captures video from the FPGA 112 and handles motion detection,participant detection, and other video processing to assist in trackingspeakers as described in more detail below. For example, the videoprocessor 114 can perform a motion detection algorithm on video capturedfrom the adjunct camera 180 to check for motion. This can avoiddirecting the adjustable camera(s) 150 at reflections from walls,tables, or the like. In addition, the video processor 114 can use aface-finding algorithm on the video from the adjunct camera 180 tofurther increase the tracking accuracy by confirming that a candidatespeaker location does indeed frame a view having a human face. Detectinga human face can use biometric analysis looking for features of thehuman face and other known techniques available in the art. Furthermore,biometric measurements of the detected face can be used as an identifierand can be associated with other information about the detected face,such as location, size, tone, etc., to uniquely identify the face andthe underlying participant. In some embodiments however, a face findingalgorithm is not required.

The control processor 111, which can be a general-purpose processor(GPP), handles communication of the device 110 with thevideoconferencing unit 115 and handles camera control and overall systemcontrol of the device 110. For example, the control processor 111controls the pan-tilt-zoom communication for the adjustable camera(s)150 and controls the camera switching by the FPGA 120.

With an understanding of the components of the endpoint 100 from FIGS.2A through 3B, discussion now turns to how the adjunct camera 180 can beused to improve operation of the endpoint 100 during a videoconferenceso the endpoint 100 can analyze video from the camera 180 andautomatically frame participants in the environment in a dynamic way asthe videoconference is conducted.

Overall, the endpoint 100 performs auto-framing of the dynamicconferencing environment effectively using the adjunct camera 180, facedetection, torso detection etc., and motion detection as discussedabove. The framing is automatic or dynamic as the videoconference isconducted without the need for user intervention. For example, theendpoint 100 adjusts the bounded view of the adjustable camera(s) 150dynamically when people walk in or out of the videoconferenceenvironment. Additionally, the auto-framing functions when participantsturn their heads whichever way they want during the videoconference—even to the point that the participants turn away from thecamera 180 and their faces are no longer visible to the camera 180.

Turning to the block diagram of the endpoint 100 in FIG. 4 and theauto-framing process 250 in FIG. 5, operation begins with the endpoint100 capturing video from both cameras 150 and 180 (Blocks 252 and 254).(To facilitate discussion, reference numerals from previous figures areused throughout the description of the process 250.) As thevideoconference proceeds, the endpoint 100 analyzes the video capturedwith the adjunct camera 180 (Block 256) and detects personage objects(Decision 258). As shown in the endpoint 100 of FIG. 4, for example, thevideo from the adjunct camera 180 is sent to a visual detection unit 200that detects the visual location of all the participants in the room.Using a personage object detector 202, for example, the endpoint 100detects where people are located at the near-end of the videoconferenceduring a particular time interval. The visual detection unit 200 uses amotion detector 204 to detect motion in the adjunct camera's video andcan use skin tone detection and other video processing techniques.

Once a participant is visually detected in the adjunct camera's view(Decision 258) as shown in FIG. 5, the endpoint 100 determines whetherthis is a new participant (Decision 260). This would naturally be thecase if the videoconference just started. During later processing,however, the endpoint 100 can determine that the detected participant isa new participant by tracking and storing previous locations ofparticipants' faces and other personage objects, finding a detected facefor a participant in a new location not previously tracked, andcross-referencing the detected participant against other participantIDs.

If a new participant is detected, the endpoint 100 determines theposition of the detected participant (Block 262). In particular, theendpoint 100 can determine the position, orientation, size, tone,biometric measurements, etc. of the detected participant, and thisparticipant-related information can be used for facial recognition andtracking and in the framing and tracking rules discussed below. Then,the endpoint 100 determines what adjustment is needed for the adjustablecamera(s) 150 to frame all of the detected participants, or a suitablesubset thereof according to the framing and tracking rules (Block 264).As set forth above, a number of techniques can be used to localize aparticipant relative to the adjustable camera(s) 150.

In one example, the endpoint 100 can use participant detectiontechniques to detect and locate participants in the adjunct camera'sstationary view. For example, the endpoint 100 can find participants byfinding regions that are likely to contain human skin, and then fromthese, the endpoint 100 can find those regions that indicate thelocation of a face in the captured view. Details related to skin toneand face detection (as well as audio locating) are disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,593,956 entitled “Locating an Audio Source,” which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Motion detection mayalso be used to detect participants. Then, knowing the location of theparticipants in the adjunct camera's view, the endpoint 100 can adjustthe pan, tilt, and/or zoom of the adjustable camera 150 to fit thelocation of all of the detected participants.

In addition, if the adjunct camera 180 has its own microphones 182 asshown in FIG. 4 or if the endpoint 100 has microphone arrays 160, suchas in FIG. 2A, the endpoint 100 can process audio from those microphonesusing a pan-angle estimation software module 210 as shown in FIG. 4 toestimate the angular orientation of the person talking. This module 210can be based on audio processing techniques used for a linear microphonearray, which uses the phase information of the microphone signals, orthe audio processing techniques of the pan-estimation software module210 can use any other available technique to determine the pan angle ofan audio source.

Continuing with the process 250 in FIG. 5, once the participants arelocated in the adjunct camera's video, the endpoint 100 converts thelocations into camera commands (pan-tilt-zoom coordinates) to adjust theview of the adjustable camera(s) 150. When adjusted, the adjustablecamera(s) 150 can then capture all of the participants in theenvironment so all of the participants are framed in the view of atleast one adjustable camera (Block 266).

The participant detection discussed above also uses a motion detectionassessment (Block 280) to enhance the participant detection of theendpoint 100. In this assessment 280, the endpoint 100 process the videofrom the adjunct camera 180 for motion in conjunction with participantdetection so the endpoint 100 can deal with various situations, such aswhen a participant turns his head away from the video device 110.Further details related to this participant detection and motiondetection are discussed below with reference to FIGS. 7 through 10B.

Because there may be challenges to framing the participants, theendpoint 100 determines if the participants are framed properly in thecurrent view (Decision 268). If not, the endpoint 100 searches theactive view and/or adjacent portions of the camera's view to adjust theview to frame the participants (Block 270). Adjusting the view can berepeated as many times as needed and can involve processing video fromboth the adjustable camera(s) 150 and the adjunct camera 180.Ultimately, if the locations of participant cannot be determined or theparticipants cannot be properly framed, the endpoint 100 may adjust theadjustable camera(s) 150 to a default wide-view (Block 254).

Using the video and audio information, for example, a framing andtracking rules software module 220 as shown in FIG. 4 uses ad-hoc rulesto send framing adjustments to the adjustable camera(s) 150. The sentframing adjustments are based on the location of participants (e.g., thelocations of their heads) and the pan-angle of the talker, and thecommands sent to the adjustable camera(s) 150 are intended to optimallyframe the people in the room. These framing adjustments can also be usedto track a particular participant and to zoom in and out on variousparticipants that are talking depending on the configuration.

Several techniques can be used for determining if the current view ofthe adjustable camera(s) 150 properly frames the current participants.For example, once the adjustable camera(s) 150 is done steering, theendpoint 100 can use spatial algorithms to point the center focus of theadjustable camera(s) 150 at a central point between the detectedparticipant locations. Additionally, the outside boundary from the zoomof the adjustable camera(s) 150 may be set to define a boarder region ofa specific size (i.e., number of pixels relative to overall width orheight of the zoomed view) outside the outlying detected participants inthe view.

If the algorithm reports good framing (Decision 268), the endpoint 100outputs the framed view (Block 270). If good framing is not reported,then the position of the adjustable camera(s) 150 is fine-tuned tocontinue searching for good framing (Block 272). If good framing stillcannot be found, the endpoint 100 may switch to a default wide view ofthe adjustable camera(s) 150 (Block 254).

Isolating Loudspeaker Audio when Adjunct Camera has Microphones

When the adjunct camera 180 includes microphones 182 to trackparticipants as shown in FIG. 4, the endpoint 100 preferably does notprocess audio signals captured when the loudspeaker 119 of the endpoint100 is outputting audio. For example, if the loudspeaker 119 is disposedon a table where the participants are seated, the microphones 182 of theadjunct camera 180 would detect the loudspeaker 119 as an audio sourcewhen the endpoint 100 outputs audio for the loudspeaker 119. Moreover,even if the loudspeaker 119 is not in the field of view of the adjunctcamera 180, any sound reflected in the room when the loudspeaker 119outputs audio can be detected by the adjunct camera's microphones 182 asa source. A number of techniques can be used to handle this situation.

In one technique, operation of the adjunct camera 180 can be integratedinto the operation of the videoconferencing unit 115. In this way, anyaudio processing of the microphones 182 associated with the adjunctcamera 180 can be disabled when the videoconferencing unit 115 outputsaudio for the loudspeaker 119. For this integrated operation, internalcomponents within the endpoint 100 will be able to coordinate when todisable audio processing the adjunct's microphones 182 when theloudspeaker 119 outputs audio.

In embodiments in which the adjunct camera 180 is integrated into thevideo device 100, and processing of the adjunct camera's microphones 182is handled separately from the loudspeaker 119 of the videoconferencingunit (115), then disabling processing of audio from the adjunct camera'smicrophones 182 may be less straight-forward. When data communication ispossible between the unit (115) and the video device 110 having theadjunct camera 180, then a signal from the unit 115 can indicate to thevideo device 110 that audio is being sent to the loudspeaker 119 foroutput, and the video device 110 can disable processing the audio fromthe adjunct's microphones 182.

Alternatively, the video device 110 can uses a far-end echo detector206, similar to what is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Pub. 2011/0069830incorporated herein by reference, to determine when audio is beingoutput by the loudspeaker 119 so the loudspeaker's audio can be isolatedfrom the input signals captured by the adjunct camera's microphones 182.The loudspeaker echo detector receives the microphones' signal(s) andthe loudspeaker signal as inputs. In general, the far-end echo detector206 examines the correlation between the loudspeaker signal and themicrophone signal and determines whether there is a predominant presenceof the loudspeaker signal in the microphone signal. The detector 206decides if the loudspeaker signal is predominant (Decision 208). If so,then the framing and tracking rules of the module 220 will not zoom inon the location of the loudspeaker 119 because the audio pan angleestimation module 210 may be bypassed or ignored. If the loudspeakersignal is not dominant, then the framing and tracking rules of themodule 220, if configured to do so, will be free to decide to zoom in ona talker located by the pan angle estimation module 210.

Finally, since the location of the loudspeaker 119 may remain the samein the environment regardless of which participants are present, thevideo device 110 can recognize that this location corresponds to theloudspeaker 119 and not to a participant so that audio detection and panangle estimation associated with the loudspeaker's location can beignored.

Example of Auto-Framing

Now that operation of the endpoint 100 has been described above withreference to FIGS. 4-5, discussion turns to FIGS. 6A-6D, which diagraman example of how the endpoint 100 can use video from the adjunct camera(180) to determine and control the view obtained with the adjustablecamera(s) (150). A depicted wide view 300 represents the video viewcaptured by the adjunct camera (180) of the videoconferencingenvironment. The wide view 300 is shown divided into several blocks 302(9×9 in this example, but any other value could be used). The blocks 302can preferably be macroblocks having a suitable block size of pixels, ascommonly used by video compression algorithms. Each of these blocks 302may correlate to particular pan, tilt, and zoom coordinates of theadjustable camera(s) (150), which can be determined by the givengeometry.

At the start of the videoconference as shown in FIG. 6A, there may be asingle participant P1 present in the environment. In this example, avideoconferencing device detects the head and shoulders HS1 of theparticipant P1 and determines the location of the head and shoulders HS1in the adjunct camera's stationary view 300 of the environment. Based onthis determined location, the adjustable camera(s) (150) is directed tocapture a framed view 310 of the single participant P1.

At some point as shown in FIG. 6B, another participant P2 may enter theenvironment. Depending on the arrangement, this participant P2 may notbe visible within the initial boundary of the framed view 310 of thefirst participant P2. Yet, the adjunct camera 180 captures the newparticipant P2 in the camera's wide, stationary view 300. Persondetection as discussed herein detects the new participant's head andshoulders HS2 in this view 300, and the endpoint 100 determines a newframed view 312 to incorporate the two participants P1 and P2.

In at least one embodiment, the endpoint 100 does not adjust the view ofthe adjustable camera(s) 150 when a participant is “moving,” as wouldoccur when a participant is walking into a room, for example. Instead,the adjustable camera(s) 150 is adjusted when the participant has“settled,” meaning that the participant has had substantially the sameposition (remained within a “bird cage”) for some period of time or forsome number of frames. This feature can be especially useful when peoplewalk in or out of a room when the videoconference call begins.

In this example, assuming that the new participant has “settled” (e.g.,the participant P2 has remained at the door for a certain period of timeor a number of frames), the endpoint 100 determines that the initialboundary of the framed view 310 contains less than all of the persons P1and P2 detected in the current stationary view 300 being processed.Knowing the locations of the detected persons P1 and P2 (i.e., knowingwhich blocks 302 of the stationary view 300 contain the persons P1 andP2), the endpoint 100 determines a subsequent boundary for a new framedview 312 by adjusting the initial boundary to contain all of thedetected persons P1 and P2 in the stationary view 300.

As part of this processing, the locations of participants' faces andother elements of the stationary view 300 can be stored in memory. Forinstance, the location of the first participant's head and shoulders HS1in the wide view 300 would initially be stored. Then, after a timeinterval, the endpoint 100 processes the stationary view 300 again todetect one or more new participant locations of any new participants inthe environment by performing participant detection in the adjunctcamera's stationary view 300. If a new participant is detected (e.g.,second participant's head and shoulders HS2) as noted above, theendpoint 100 can detect a difference between the current participantlocations (e.g., head and shoulders HS1's location) and the newparticipant locations (e.g., head and shoulders HS2's location) and canadjust the boundary for the adjustable camera(s) 150 based on thedetected difference in participant locations.

After initial framing in the adjusted view 312 of the adjustablecamera(s) (150) to capture both participants P1 and P2, the newparticipant P2 may move in the environment while the originalparticipant P1 stays in place or vice-versa. As this occurs, the framedview 312 of the adjustable camera(s) 150 is adjusted as needed.

Eventually, after the new participant P2 enters and stops moving asshown in FIG. 6C, the adjustable camera(s) 150 may settle on a framedview 314 of both participants P1 and P2, selecting an appropriate widthof the view to accommodate the two participants P1 and P2 and anappropriate level to keep their faces or heads close to the verticalcenterline of the view.

As part of the process for adjusting the framed view of the adjustablecamera(s) 150, the endpoint 100 may use captured audio of theenvironment in configuring the adjustments to the view of the adjustablecamera(s) 150. To do this as noted above, the endpoint 100 can determinebearing angles of locations of speech audio sources in the environment.The determined bearing angles of the source locations can then becoordinated with participant locations detected in the environment sothe coordinated information can be used in adjusting the view of theadjustable camera(s) 150. The endpoint 100 may even adjust the view ofthe adjustable camera(s) 150 to only capture the view of a participantwho is speaking at some point during the conference.

The timing involved in detecting a visual change in the stationary view300 and/or detecting speech audio in the environment and then making theadjustments to the adjustable camera(s) 150 can be predetermined or mayvary. Preferably, the adjustments provide for smooth visual effects andaccount for appropriate processing. Accordingly, the framing andtracking rules of the module 220 can be flexible for various situations.

For example, when one of the participants (e.g., P1) talks, the framingand tracking rules of the module 220 may be configured to direct theadjustable camera(s) 150 at that participant P1 as the current talker.Before actually directing the camera 150, however, the framing andtracking module 220 can include a transitional mode that delays thisaction. Instead, the framing and tracking module 220 keeps theadjustable camera(s) 150 in its current view capturing all of theparticipants P1 and P2 while the participant P1 talks. If thisparticipant P1 continues speaking for a certain period of time, therules of the module 220 can then direct the adjustable camera(s) 150 tozoom in on that participant P1 as the current talker.

At some point as shown in FIG. 6D, one of the participants P2 may startmoving such that the participant's head and shoulders HS2 leaves theadjustable camera(s)'s framed view 314 or moves out of a designatedboundary. However, the participant can in some cases be tracked usingthe participant's ID. Again, the adjunct camera 180 still capturesimages of the environment in the wide view 300, and the information isused to determine a new framed view 316 in FIG. 6D for the adjustablecamera(s) 150 according to the steps previously discussed.

As will be appreciated, the framing of the participants P1 and P2 canaccount for a number of such changes as described above, includinginclusion of one or more additional participants other than theparticipants P1 and P2 already present. Likewise, the framing canaccount for either of the participants P1 and P2 leaving the environmentso that the endpoint 100 no longer detects that participant. As thesescenarios show, using the adjunct camera 180 in the endpoint 100 canimprove the automated framing of the participants in thevideoconference.

Moreover, even if a participant P1 or P2 turns away from the cameras 150and 180, the participant detection performed by the endpoint 100 may becapable of detecting faces at three-quarter views or other profilesdepending on the robustness of the algorithm. Additionally, even if aparticipant's face is no longer detected or recognized, the endpoint 100will not immediately determine that the participant is no longer presentin the environment. This makes sense because the participant may turnhis head way, bend down, turn to a drawing board, etc. In at least oneembodiment, the processing of the endpoint 100 preferably accounts forsuch intermittent changes as part of its framing and tracking rules inthe module (220: FIG. 4). Moreover, even where face information is notavailable, head information can serve the same end.

To do this, the endpoint 100 can require certain time intervals totranspire to delay implementing changes in the automatic framing of theenvironment. Additionally, the endpoint 100 can combine motiondetection, audio source location, skin recognition, etc. so that thelocation of a participant is tied to several pieces of information.Should participant detection during a processing interval fail to detecta given personage object of an ID'd participant, the endpoint 100 canuse such additional information to keep track of that participant. Theseand other ID-driven rules can be used by the endpoint 100 to control theendpoint's operation and are described in more detail below.

With an understanding of the endpoint 100 and the process of automaticframing of participants in a videoconference environment, discussion nowturns to further features of the present disclosure that enhance theauto-framing achieved. As can be appreciated, the detection results fromthe personage object detector 202 of FIG. 4 may not always be reliablewhen performing the auto-framing. For example, the personage objectdetector 202 can have false alarms or misses when the results are falsepositives and false negatives. For this reason, the endpoint 100 may useaudio information to help frame the participants in the environment.However, as hinted to above, the endpoint 100 uses motion informationfrom a motion detector 204 to accompany the participant detectionresults when determining the auto-framing of the environment with theframing and tracking rules of the module 220.

As noted above, the endpoint 100 can use a bird cage technique tolocalize a participant. For example, FIG. 7 diagrammatically shows anarea or region 350 associated with a participant. The area 350 isdivided into regions or sections of interest in which the endpoint (100)checks for motion. In this example, four sections are defined in thearea 350 of the detected participant. These sections include a head(and/or face) and shoulder section 352, a Left section 354L, a Rightsection 354R, and a Top of Head section 356.

The size and shape of these sections 352, 354, and 356 can de differentthan shown in FIG. 7 and can be adjusted for a given implementation. Ingeneral, the head/face and shoulders section 352 encompasses thelocation of a detected face or head, while the Right and Left sections354R-L encompass areas to the right and left of the face/head/shoulderslocation. Finally, the Top of Head section 356 encompasses an area abovethese sections and above the head of the participant.

The size of the area 350 depends on the size of the detected head andshoulders. Therefore, a participant detected further away in thestationary view of the adjunct camera 180 will have a smaller area 350defined around them compared to the area 350 for a detected closerparticipant.

To illustrate an example, FIG. 8A shows portion of a previous frame 360relative to portion of a current frame 362 of video captured by theadjunct camera (180). A participant (P0) was detected in the previousframe 360 along with its associated position (x, y), size,characteristics, etc. However, a face is not detected in the currentframe 362 for the corresponding position (x, y). This could be becausethe participant P0 has stood up and turned away from the camera (180)capturing the frames 360 and 362. In this case, the videoconferencingunit detects motion in the surrounding sections of the area 350 anddetermines that participant P0 has moved. Nevertheless, P0 may betracked based on the attributes of her ID.

In contrast, FIG. 8B shows portion of a previous frame 360 relative toportion of a current frame 362. A head and shoulder was detected in theprevious frame 360 along with its associated position (x, y), size,characteristic, etc. However, a face is not detected in the currentframe 362 for the corresponding position (x, y). As shown, this is sobecause the participant has turned his head away from the camera (180)capturing the frames 360 and 362. In this case however, there is nomovement (no moving pixels) in the boundary area 350. Thus the head inthe second is the same head in the first frame. Thus, it can be seenthat while face recognition and detection are useful, they are notnecessarily critical for participant localization. Accordingly, thisparticipant can still remain framed in the auto-framing by theadjustable camera (150).

One or more acts in accordance with flow chart steps or process stepsmay be performed by a programmable control device executing instructionsorganized into one or more program modules on a non-transitoryprogrammable storage device. A programmable control device may be asingle computer processor, a special purpose processor (e.g., a digitalsignal processor, “DSP”), a plurality of processors coupled by acommunications link or a custom designed state machine. Custom designedstate machines may be embodied in a hardware device such as anintegrated circuit including, but not limited to, application specificintegrated circuits (“ASICs”) or field programmable gate array(“FPGAs”). Non-transitory programmable storage devices, sometimes calleda computer readable medium, suitable for tangibly embodying programinstructions include, but are not limited to: magnetic disks (fixed,floppy, and removable) and tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs anddigital video disks (“DVDs”); and semiconductor memory devices such asElectrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (“EPROM”), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (“EEPROM”), Programmable GateArrays and flash devices.

Embodiments within this disclosure can include tangible and/ornon-transitory computer-readable storage media for carrying or havingcomputer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Suchnon-transitory computer-readable storage media can be any availablemedia that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purposecomputer, including the functional design of any special purposeprocessor as discussed above. By way of example, and not limitation,such non-transitory computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in network computingenvironments with many types of computer system configurations,including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by local and remote processing devices thatare linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, or by acombination thereof) through a communications network. In a distributedcomputing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only, and should not be construed so as to limit the scopeof the disclosure. Various modifications and changes can be made to theprinciples and embodiments described herein without departing from thescope of the disclosure and without departing from the claims whichfollow. Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “meansfor” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing aspecific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step”clause as specified in 35 U.S.C § 112, sixth paragraph.

1. An auto-framing and tracking method for a video conference, themethod comprising: capturing a first feed using a first camera;detecting, using a processor, a conference participant in a first frameof the first feed; identifying, using the processor, one or more motionpixels by comparing the first frame to a previous frame of the firstfeed; determining, using the processor, a boundary in the first feed byiteratively searching for a static region in the first feed based on theone or more motion pixels, the boundary at least partially surrounding aconference participant and forming a bounded area; generating, using theprocessor, a framed view corresponding to the bounded area; detecting,using the processor, any of a plurality of personage objects within thebounded area in a second frame of the first feed; identifying, using theprocessor, one or more second motion pixels by comparing the secondframe to the first frame; determining, using the processor, responsiveto detecting the any of a plurality of personage objects within thebounded area, that the boundary was static between capture of the firstframe and capture of the second frame based on the lack of identifiedsecond motion pixels in the boundary; and including, using theprocessor, responsive to determining that the boundary was staticbetween capture of the first frame and capture of the second frame, theframed view within a second feed for transmission to a remote endpoint.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, using theprocessor, responsive to detecting the any of a plurality of personageobjects within the bounded area, that the boundary was not staticbetween capture of the first frame and capture of the second frame basedon the presence of identified second motion pixels in the boundary; anddetermining, using the processor, a second boundary in the first feed byshifting the boundary in steps until a static region is determined basedon the lack of identified second motion pixels in the shifted boundaryor for a determined number of shifts.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: generating, using the processor, a second framed viewcorresponding to the second bounded area; and replacing the framed viewin the second feed with the second framed view.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein determining one or more motion pixels comprises determiningthat a current illumination value of one or more pixels of a currentframe has changed from an illumination value of one or morecorresponding pixels of an earlier frame by a threshold.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the plurality of personage objects comprise face,head, torso and shoulders.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of personage objects comprise face, head, torso, shoulders,skin tone, eyes, and lips.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of personage objects comprise face, head, torso and soundgenerated by a person.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:adjusting, using the processor, a view of a second camera to a secondframed view based on the boundary; and including the second framed viewwithin a third feed for transmission to the remote endpoint.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising tracking, using the processor, alocation of the conference participant using an identifier based, atleast in part, on the any of a plurality of personage objects.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein detecting the conference participant in thefirst frame includes: detecting, using the processor, a facial featurein the first frame; detecting, using the processor, a torso in the firstframe; and determining, using the processor, that the facial featurecorresponds to the torso based on a position of the facial featurerelative to the torso.
 11. A non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring instructions executable by a processor, the instructionscomprising instructions to: capture, using a first camera, a first feed;detect a conference participant in a first frame of the first feed;identify one or more motion pixels by comparing the first frame to aprevious frame of the first feed; determine a boundary in the first feedby iteratively searching for a static region in the first feed based onthe one or more motion pixels, the boundary at least partiallysurrounding a conference participant and forming a bounded area;generate a first framed view corresponding to the bounded area; detectany of a plurality of personage objects within the bounded area in asecond frame of the first feed; identify one or more second motionpixels by comparing the second frame to the first frame; determine,responsive to detecting the any of a plurality of personage objectswithin the bounded area, that the boundary was static between capture ofthe first frame and capture of the second frame based on the lack ofidentified second motion pixels in the boundary; and include, responsiveto determining that the boundary was static between capture of the firstframe and capture of the second frame, the first framed view within asecond feed for transmission to a remote endpoint.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further comprise instructions to: determine, responsive todetecting the any of a plurality of personage objects within the boundedarea, that the boundary was not static between capture of the firstframe and capture of the second frame based on the presence ofidentified second motion pixels in the boundary; and determine a secondboundary in the first feed by shifting the boundary in steps until astatic region is determined based on the lack of identified secondmotion pixels in the shifted boundary or for a determined number ofshifts.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable medium claim 12,wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: generate asecond framed view corresponding to the second bounded area; and replacethe framed view in the second feed with the second framed view.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein theplurality of personage objects comprise face, head, torso and shoulders.15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein theplurality of personage objects comprise face, head, torso, shoulders,skin tone, eyes, and lips.
 16. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 11, wherein the plurality of personage objects compriseface, head, torso and sound generated by a person.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further comprise instructions to: adjust a view of a secondcamera to a second framed view based on the boundary; include the secondframed view within a third feed for transmission to the remote endpoint;and remove the first framed view from the second feed.
 18. Avideoconferencing apparatus, the videoconferencing apparatus comprising:a processor; a camera coupled to the processor; and a memory coupled tothe processor and storing instructions executable by the processor,wherein the instructions comprise instructions to: capture, using afirst camera, a first feed; detect a conference participant in a firstframe of the first feed; identify one or more motion pixels by comparingthe first frame to a previous frame of the first feed; determine aboundary in the first feed by iteratively searching for a static regionin the first feed based on the one or more motion pixels, the boundaryat least partially surrounding a conference participant and forming abounded area; generate a framed view corresponding to the bounded area;detect any of a plurality of personage objects within the bounded areain a second frame of the first feed; identify one or more second motionpixels by comparing the second frame to the first frame; determine,responsive to detecting the any of a plurality of personage objectswithin the bounded area, that the boundary was static between capture ofthe first frame and capture of the second frame based on the lack ofidentified second motion pixels in the boundary; and include, responsiveto determining that the boundary was static between capture of the firstframe and capture of the second frame, the framed view within a secondfeed for transmission to a remote endpoint.
 19. The videoconferencingapparatus of claim 18, further comprising at least one second camera,and wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: adjust aview of the second camera to a second framed view based on the boundary;and include the second framed view within a third feed for transmissionto the remote endpoint.
 20. The videoconferencing apparatus of claim 19,wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: determine,responsive to detecting the any of a plurality of personage objectswithin the bounded area, that the boundary was not static betweencapture of the first frame and capture of the second frame based on thepresence of identified second motion pixels in the boundary; determine asecond boundary in the first feed by shifting the boundary in stepsuntil a static region is determined based on the lack of identifiedsecond motion pixels in the shifted boundary or for a determined numberof shifts; generate a second framed view corresponding to the secondbounded area; and replace the framed view in the second feed with thesecond framed view.